Social decision-making is a multifaceted process where decisions impact not only the individual but also the larger group. Acute stress may influence individual decision-making, potentially increasing reward-driven choices and affecting learning and adaptive adjustment. However, studies examining stress's impact on social decision-making have presented inconsistencies, potentially arising from assessing decision-making as a singular dimension. This article aims to test, using computational modeling, the stress effect on social decision making and cognitive subprocesses involved during the Ultimatum Game (UG). Seventy-three healthy participants underwent the UG, with only half exposed before to the virtual Trier Social Stress Test (TSST-VR). In our data, prosocial behavior-as indexed by the number of accepted offers and sensitivity to unfair distributions-did not show immediate alterations 15min following stressor onset. However, stressed participants exhibited a diminished capacity to learn and adapt during the task, alongside a more perseverative decision-making pattern. These results support the negative impact of stress on social decisions and underscore the importance of considering its effects in mitigating challenges related to social integration and cohesion.

ABSTRACT This paper critically examines how color-blind policies at a Minzu university that serves minority students shape the experiences of indigenous Tibetan students. It focuses on how ‘multicultural education’ (duoyuan wenhua jiaoyu) is implemented to integrate ethnic minority students in China’s ‘Minzu’ higher education system, while highlighting discrepancies between policy and practice. Drawing on critical ethnography of participant observation and in-depth interviews, this study explores how classroom interactions, campus life, and daily practices reflect contested expressions of ethnic identity. Despite institutional claims of inclusion, Tibetan students’ linguistic and cultural values are often overlooked, leading to their exclusion from both academic support and social integration. Although Tibetan students uphold strong cultural solidarity, the institutional structure of Minzu universities limits their ability to integrate their linguistic and cultural knowledge into academic success. Drawing on China’s experience, this paper explores how a top-down, color-blind approach marginalises minority groups, ultimately reinforcing linguistic and cultural exclusion in higher education. It challenges prevailing diversity rhetoric in educational practices and contributes to a reconsideration of educational inclusion from a contextually informed perspective.

ABSTRACT The workplace experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) migrant women have received little attention in contemporary literature. This paper aims to address this research gap by focusing on the social integration of Pakistani Muslim migrant women in Australian workplaces. Drawing on interviews with 28 Pakistani women, this study examines the barriers they encounter during the process of workplace integration. By employing an intersectionality framework, the findings reveal that the intersections of gender, culture, religion and non-English speaking background produce significant challenges to their workplace integration. Additionally, certain organisational practices and experiences of discrimination further hinder the integration process. It is concluded that the current policies promoting diversity and inclusion are not effectively implemented in practice, leading to intersectional disadvantages for Pakistani migrant women in Australian workplaces.

China’s vast rural landscape exhibits pronounced regional disparities in both foundational resources and development potential. In the context of nationwide rural revitalization efforts, the emergent divergence in village development pathways underscores a pressing need for context-specific, classified interventions. To furnish a scientifically grounded typology of villages and inform differentiated development planning, this investigation focuses on Hubei Province as an illustrative case. Synthesizing survey data from 32,457 villages, we developed a multidimensional evaluation framework encompassing four pivotal domains: economic vitality, social service provision, ecological integrity, and cultural value. Leveraging the Self-Organizing Feature Map (SOFM) neural network—an unsupervised machine learning algorithm—we performed a cluster analysis on multi-source, heterogeneous datasets. This technique enabled the objective delineation of spatial typological patterns among Hubei’s villages, elucidated their underlying classification architecture shaped by multifaceted drivers, and demonstrated the methodological robustness and applicability of this approach for large-scale village categorization. Grounded in the derived typologies and informed by strategic directives from higher-tier planning instruments, we conducted a nuanced examination of the distinctive attributes characterizing each village type. The findings provide scientific evidence and decision-making support for village classification and rural revitalization planning in Hubei Province, with valuable implications for other regions with similar development foundations in China.

‘Thinking’, ‘helping’, and ‘replacing’: what personification metaphors reveal about the social integration of generative AI

Social capital, objective social integration, subjective social integration, and utilization of public health services among older migrant population: a structural equation modeling analysis of multi-group chain mediating effect.

Is mild intellectual disability associated with a rhythmic skills impairment? A developmental perspective.

Forced displacement has reached unprecedented levels, with over 120 million people uprooted globally and more than 100,000 refugees resettled in the United States in 2024. Refugees arrive with diverse cultural identities, prior professional roles, and experiences of trauma, yet often face systemic barriers, clinician bias, and unmet health needs. This article offers a practical framework grounded in holistic, person-centered values for delivering palliative nursing care to refugee communities. It outlines the complex resettlement journey and highlights how structural inequities, institutional racism, and communication barriers can undermine trust and care delivery. Cultural humility is defined and proposed as a guiding principle. Through real-world examples, communication strategies, and evidence-based insights, the authors demonstrate how care grounded in this principle can promote dignity, build trust, and improve outcomes. Special attention is given to interpreter use, social integration, and the importance of recognizing both cultural differences and individual strengths. When combined with the interdisciplinary, person-centered principles of palliative care-such as symptom management, effective communication, and cultural and spiritual respect-a strengths-based approach can enhance how care is delivered to displaced populations. By understanding the sociocultural and systemic factors that shape the refugee experience, nurses can better meet the complex needs of these patients and their families.

Building bridges: Interreligious marriage in fostering social integration in South Wollo, Ethiopia

Disability pension during emerging adulthood: Insights from the young-HUNT study on psychological distress, chronic pain, and policy reform.

To the best of this researcher's knowledge, no dish in the world surpasses the height of its bowl, except for bazin. Its dome typically extends beyond the bowl, necessitating a palm frond plate to cover it. Moreover, there is no Libyan dish as passionately loved and frequently consumed by Libyans, for lunch or dinner, as bazin. It is the sole traditional dish that has accompanied Libyans throughout their recorded history. The traveler Ibn Khaldun, along with historians like Abu Abdullah al-Tijani, Hassan Ibn al-Wazzan, and the English orientalist John Francis Leont, have mentioned bazin in their accounts. They unanimously agree that it is the preferred food of Libyans for all occasions. This dish was also the primary sustenance for Libyans during their long struggle against Italian fascism. Libyan women, as fighters in their own right, prepared bazin for the mujahideen and celebrated it in folk songs that boosted morale and strengthened resolve. Bazin embodies social unity. We need bazin to unite us around a single bowl, fostering a sense of community among Libyans, uniting us, discussing our affairs, improving our situation, and reconciling with our people

The growing adoption of life cycle assessment (LCA) across productive sectors has yet to be systematically examined in terms of its capacity to drive environmental transformation beyond methodological assessment. This systematic review (2018–2024) explores how LCA functions as a catalyst for environmental change in products, processes, and systems. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, 657 records from Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect were screened, yielding 50 high-quality studies assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tool; bibliometric network analysis via VOSviewer complemented qualitative thematic synthesis. Findings reveal a shift from conventional standardized life cycle assessment methodologies toward integrated frameworks such as LCSA, incorporating regionalized characterization factors, uncertainty quantification, and digital technologies. Applications across energy, agri-food, manufacturing, construction, and waste management support SDGs 12, 13, and 9 by identifying hotspots, comparing technologies, and informing policy. However, inconsistencies in functional units, system boundaries, and impact methods, alongside limited social and economic integration, restrict cross-study comparability. The evidence indicates that LCA is evolving from an assessment tool into a deliberative decision-making infrastructure, requiring harmonized yet context-specific methodologies and robust social indicators for equitable implementation. This review offers original value by combining bibliometric and critical methodological synthesis to map how life-cycle thinking induces environmental transformation, revealing the gap between evaluative capacity and transformative implementation.

Social cohesion is a core dimension of social sustainability and a prerequisite for inclusive, resilient cities. Rapid rural-to-urban migration often exceeds the capacity of cities to accommodate newcomers, leading many immigrants to settle in informal neighborhoods. These areas, typically composed of diverse ethnic groups with distinct cultural, linguistic, and social backgrounds, frequently face challenges in building social cohesion. This study examines how physical elements of public spaces influence social cohesion in multiethnic informal settlements, using the Hesar Imam Khomeini neighborhood in Hamadan, Iran, as a case study. Hesar, with its rural origins and recent influx of Lor, Kurdish, Turkish, and Fars migrants, provides a unique setting to explore the relationship between the built environment and interethnic relations. A conceptual model was developed based on existing literature, and data were collected through a questionnaire survey using a Likert scale. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied to test the hypothesized relationships. The findings demonstrate that physical factors shape social cohesion through a three-stage mechanism: they first foster social interactions among residents, which then contribute to the development of social capital, and ultimately lead to greater social cohesion and integration. These results highlight how inclusive public-space design can support community-based informal-settlement upgrading and sustainable urban development, by strengthening social sustainability outcomes such as cohesion, integration, and resilience.

Background: Children’s emotional wellbeing and physical activity are closely linked to their learning achievements, social integration, and long-term health. Studies show that physical activity improves psychological wellbeing, reduces anxiety, and strengthens self-regulation (Demetriou et al., 2019; Kang et al., 2020). However, the World Health Organization emphasises that 81% of children and adolescents are still physically inactive (WHO, 2021), which increases the risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease (Walker et al., 2021). Schools, as the primary educational environment, play a key role in promoting physical activity and providing psychological support, but few studies have examined how different school environments can affect children’s emotional wellbeing and activity levels. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of gender and school type on the emotional wellbeing and physical activity of primary school students and to analyse the possible relationships between these factors. Material and Methods: The study was conducted in November 2024 in three different types of schools (public rural, public urban, and private). There were 166 primary school students (aged 6–10; 53.6% boys, 46.4% girls) participating in this study. Emotional state was assessed using the Wellbeing, Activity, and Mood (WAM) Scale (Malinauskas, 2003b; Райгородский, 2000), consisting of 30 statements that were adapted by the authors to the age of the children and supplemented with visual images to help understand the questions. Physical activity levels were determined using a short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-LT) (Lekečinskaitė, 2009), which was also adapted by the authors for primary school children – the questions were simplified and presented with examples and visual elements that children could understand. Physical activity was classified into three levels: low (<600 MET-min/week), moderate (600–3,000 MET-min/week), and high (>3,000 MET-min/week). The study was anonymous, conducted in accordance with ethical requirements, and data collection was carried out under the same conditions in all schools. Results and Conclusions: The analysis showed that boys’ wellbeing and mood were slightly higher, while girls showed slightly higher physical activity, but these differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05), thus gender did not have a significant impact on emotional state or activity. Meanwhile, the type of school had a significant effect: private school students rated their wellbeing and mood lower than rural and urban students (p < 0.001), while rural school students showed significantly higher physical activity than urban students (p < 0.001). Correlation analysis revealed strong links between wellbeing, mood, and subjective activity (r = 0.70, p < 0.001), but objectively measured physical activity (IPAQ-LT) had no significant link to emotional state. This suggests that the school environment has a greater influence on children’s wellbeing than gender, and that subjective emotional factors are more closely related to wellbeing than objective activity levels. Keywords: School-age children, physical activity, psychological wellbeing

Enhancing sustainability in urban areas relies heavily on achieving an optimal increase in building density. However, identifying suitable sites for high-rise urban developments could be challenging. One approach to tackle this problem involves the utilization of multi-indicator land suitability analysis in the process of land-use planning. This approach plays an essential role in mitigating the fragmentation of natural habitats, promoting social integration, reducing air pollution, and preserving water and natural resources at both local and regional levels. This study aims to evaluate infill land suitability for high-rise urban development in Ahvaz, Iran. Methodologically, this study introduces an integrated Boolean–fuzzy geographic information systems framework combined with the fuzzy best–worst method, which enhances decision reliability by systematically handling uncertainty in expert judgments while reducing inconsistency compared to conventional weighting methods such as analytic hierarchy process. The findings indicate that approximately 54 percent of the city’s land areas are unsuitable for high-rise urban development. Furthermore, among the remaining suitable areas, about 30 percent were identified as priorities for high-rise development. Priority areas are primarily located in densely populated neighborhoods with higher socioeconomic status and better access to services. This study is significant because analyzing the suitability of urban land plays a crucial role in formulating effective land-use policies that promote sustainable urban development. It also helps prioritize management actions and identify spatial development patterns that yield maximum efficiency.

Abstract The socialization literature has traditionally assumed the existence of a tension between the encouragement of newcomers' assimilation (i.e., the successful integration into the social environment) to enhance task performance and the encouragement of their differentiation (i.e., the safe expression of valuable perspectives) to enhance their creativity. However, how and when newcomers find balance between assimilation and differentiation for better performance and creativity remain unclear. Drawing on optimal distinctiveness theory, we address this limitation by developing and testing a dual‐pathway model of newcomer socialization, where (a) two distinct forms of trust in supervisor (i.e., affective and cognitive) foster, namely, newcomer task performance via an assimilation process (i.e., social integration) and newcomer creativity via a differentiation process (i.e., voice); and (b) newcomer rule‐following shapes these indirect effects. Results from a three‐wave longitudinal survey involving 171 newcomer–supervisor dyads supported our predictions. We discuss the implications of these findings for management theory and practice.

Information and communications technology (ICT) is increasingly embedded in the lives of migrants, creating new spatial forms that provide novel pathways for social integration. This study focuses on the leisure patterns of urban migrants in both virtual and physical spaces and further analyzes relationships between leisure patterns and social integration and its influencing factors. Using a weekly leisure activity diary of urban migrants in Guangzhou, China, we identify three leisure patterns based on the leisure activity locations and companions: virtual-solo, virtual-physical balance, and physical-partner. Both the virtual-physical balance and physical-partner leisure patterns significantly promote social integration among urban migrants. Additionally, there are notable differences in the influencing factors of these two patterns that facilitate migrant integration: The virtual-physical balance pattern is affected by home space, whereas the physical-partner pattern is influenced by the residence location and companions. This study conceptualizes the leisure patterns of urban migrants in virtual and physical spaces and explores their impact on social integration from a lifestyle-based lens, thereby expanding the existing geographical literature on virtual-physical spaces and social integration. The findings provide a crucial foundation for developing spatial policy interventions aimed at helping urban migrants better adapt to urban life.

In light of rising concerns over the psychological and academic consequences of excessive digital engagement among College of Education students, this study investigates the complex interplay between social media use, screen time, mental health, and academic outcomes. This study investigated the complex interplay between social media use, screen time, depression, mental health, assessment integrity, and internal assessment scores among tertiary students in Ghana using a cross-sectional correlational design. A total of 970 students from public Colleges of Education across Ghana were selected through stratified random sampling. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlations, multiple regression, and mediation/moderation models (Hayes PROCESS v4.0). Findings revealed that increased social media use and screen time were significantly associated with poorer mental health outcomes (R2 = 0.31, p < .001), with late-night screen usage (β = -0.29, p < .001) and emotional investment in social media (β = -0.30, p < .001) emerging as the strongest negative predictors of mental well-being. Depression significantly mediated the relationship between social media use and academic performance (indirect effect β = -0.14, 95% CI [-0.21, -0.07], p < .001), accounting for 27% of the variance in depression and 23% in academic scores. The direct path from social media use to academic performance also remained significant (β = -0.17, p < .001), while the total effect was stronger (β = -0.31, p < .001), indicating partial mediation. Furthermore, depression significantly predicted increased assessment dishonesty (β = 0.29, p < .001), and this relationship was amplified among students with high non-academic screen time exposure. Correlation analysis showed significant negative associations between screen time and assessment scores (r = -.28 to -0.32, p < .01), and between depression and academic integrity (r = .25 to 0.33, p < .01). The study concludes that digital behaviors, particularly excessive and emotionally driven screen use, detrimentally affect students' mental health and ethical academic conduct. Psychological distress, especially depression, is statistically consistent with partial mediation, digital engagement to reduced academic performance and integrity. These findings highlight the need for institutional policies that promote balanced digital habits, mental health support, and integrity-centered assessment reforms in Ghanaian tertiary institutions.

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a prevalent musculoskeletal condition worldwide, with physical exercise being the primary management strategy. However, this approach poses a significant challenge among the older population, as older people with CLBP often demonstrate low adherence to exercise-based treatments. Despite this, there is limited research evaluating the perceptions and experiences of older people regarding group exercise protocol (GEP) specifically designed for this population, which could enhance adherence and outcomes. To explore the perceptions and experiences of older people with CLBP regarding a GEP tailored to their needs. A qualitative interpretative phenomenological approach was employed to investigate participants' experiences after an 8-week GEP. Data were collected through focus groups guided by a trained researcher. The Bardin's content analysis was conducted. To facilitate the analysis and generate graphical representations, IRAMUTEQ (Interface de R pour les Analyses Multidimensionnelles de Textes et de Questionnaires) software was used. The results suggest that the perceptions of older people with CLBP regarding the GEP can be categorized into three thematic clusters: (a)social interaction, mutual support, and community integration with group exercise; (b)comprehensive benefits of specific group exercise on quality of life, sleep, and autonomy for older people with CLBP; and (c)perceived benefits of group exercise in managing low back pain and improving balance and mobility. Older people with CLBP can achieve biopsychosocial improvements through adherence to a tailored GEP. Strategies such as locating sessions in community centers, adapting exercises to individual capabilities, and fostering social bonds effectively promoted high adherence, enhanced social relationships, and improved sleep quality.

ABSTRACT Higher education serves as a tool to foster social mobility; however, some groups of students may benefit from it more. The massification of higher education has led to opening access for first-generation students (FGS), who previously were underrepresented in universities. Although many studies point to significant difficulties of FGS in integrating into a new, more prestigious environment, as well as challenges in building social connections, there is no strong empirical evidence of whether FGS struggle with social integration more than continuing-generation students (CGS). This study aims to investigate the factors that hinder or facilitate students’ ability to build social networks and establish peer relationships. We utilise longitudinal data from eight Russian universities (N = 1187) to compare social integration of FGS and CGS in two dimensions – friendship and study collaboration. Both FGS and CGS benefit from forming new social ties, but their patterns differ. FGS tend to have weaker study collaboration, likely due to limited access to supportive peers. While forming new connections enhances integration for both groups, FGS face challenges in initiating these ties, which restricts their ability to build friendships. In contrast, CGS utilise their existing social capital to strengthen its collaborative learning through established connections.